I learned a lot this week. It was a super trying week in many ways. basically our entire teaching pool dropped us (sent us texts saying they don't want to meet anymore).. as Elder Magda and I have been in Swansea together, we've nearly had 20 new investigators, which is great, but we've been having the toughest time helping them progress. We found ourselves finding in City Centre a lot and I was noticing that when I was finding, I was looking for students to talk to.. basically anyone in the age group of 16-30, because that is where I've seen the most success in my mission. I realized that I was finding the people that I wanted to find, not the people that god wanted me to find. Because of my experience and pride, I wasn't allowing the spirit to work with me in who to talk to. Also, sometimes I'm worried about getting as much done in a time slot, that I'm not really taking the time to really connect with each person. I felt the scriptures apply to my situation as I read the story of Jesus and his apostles walking through the crowds on their way to heal the young girl. The woman touched his robe, he immediately stopped what he was doing to love her, to heal her, and to help her feel hope. I'm extremely excited to apply this during our proselyting this week. Another thing that was quite funny was one day we were in the city centre for a few hours and Elder Magda said, "you know, we don't need to sift through a hundred to find the one, we just need to find the one and get on with it." I loved that.
Zone Conference was great. We talked about planning and how to use our time wisely. President Rasmussen is an exceptional teacher and trainer. He has always been good, but he's improved a lot during his training from when I first arrived on the mission. I'm grateful that we have a mission president who is in his prime right now, and he really knows how to move the work forward. Giving my departing testimony was an interesting experience. I remember looking up to the older missionaries so much when I was brand new, and it didn't feel right that I was in their shoes. the time has simply gone by too fast. It was great to catch up with some of the mission lads and take some good pictures.
The sisters in the district had a baptism this week! Her name is Anghared Cage, and she's elect. She has faced an insane amount of trials during this week leading up to her baptism, but she pressed through and took that leap of faith. Last night after her confirmation, her boyfriend called her and broke up with her because of her joining the church. the adversary is so real! but she is so strong and she mentioned several times that the gospel has made her much more happy then her boyfriend has.
As we all know, we as Harris' are pretty emotional people. The rollercoaster of emotions has been hard to handle! All is well though. I am happier than I've been in my life, and I know it has everything to do with my decisions to live the gospel.
I was challenged this week to create a list of at least 100 things that I've learned on my mission, and experiences that helped me learn those principles. It's been great! I've loved creating the list and I look forward to sharing them with you when I get home. The thing that I would like to share this week is "God's plan for us is always better than our plan for us." So many times on the mission I've been stressed out because things are going the way I want to. right now for example with all of our investigators dropping us haha In EVERY SINGLE OCCASION, it has all worked out, in a much better way than I had ever imagined. We need to embrace our trials just as Paul did. Just as Alma and the sons of Mosiah did. There is always an opportunity to grow when we stay faithful during our trials. He really does know the beginning from the end, so we need to trust that he loves enough to give us what will eventually help us return to him. That is our purpose in this life! Let's magnify it! I love you all more than you know. Hear from you soon :)
Elder Harris
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